From brilliant Biles to banished Blatter, AFP looks back at sport’s major winners and losers from a dramatic 2016.
All Blacks Eder Luvo Manyonga Chicago Cubs Simone Biles Leicester City
New Zealand reinforced its billing as rugby union’s preeminent force with an 18-match win streak — a record for a tier-one nation. It started with a thumping victory over Australia in August 2015 and blossomed into an historic sequence that included a third World Cup title as the Wallabies were vanquished again in the final. All Black greats Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Ma’a Nonu bowed out of the international game but Steve Hansen’s team didn’t miss a beat in 2016. A 3-0 series win over Wales preceded a convincing Rugby Championship triumph that culminated with a 57-15 rout of South Africa in Durban. New Zealand then beat Australia in Auckland to make it a record 18 straight wins before a 40-29 loss to Ireland in Chicago halted the Kiwis’ superb run.
The Guinea-Bissau-born striker emerged as Portugal’s unlikely hero by firing it to a first major title with a 1-0 extra-time win over France in the Euro 2016 final. With three goals in 28 appearances — all of them in friendlies — and only 13 minutes playedenroutetothefinaltherewas little to hint at Eder’s heroics at Stade de France. But an early injury to Cristiano Ronaldo forced a rethink and 28-year-old substitute Eder entered towards the end of regulation time. His 30-yard thunderbolt left France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris grasping at thin air and put Portuguese hands on the Henri Delaunay trophy. “The ugly duckling went and scored. Now he’s a beautiful swan,” quipped Portugal coach Fernando Santos.
The South African battled rivals and addiction on his road to redemption which ended with a silver medal in the long jump at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Manyonga burst onto the athletics stage with a fifth-place finish at the 2011 world championships in Daegu but descended into a drug-riddled “living hell” after getting hooked on crystal meth. He served an 18-month suspension for a failed test in 2012, but got clean after leaving his hometown, Mbekweni. He was denied gold by the slimmest of margins in Brazil, finishing one centimeter behind American Jeff Henderson, but still provided one of the Games’ most inspirational stories.
Joe Maddon’s team ended a 108year wait by beating the Cleveland Indians in thrilling fashion to clinch baseball’s World Series. The Cubs romped through the regular season, winning over 100 games for the first time since 1935, but again appeared destined to succumb to the ‘Curse of the Billy Goat’ after falling behind 3-1 in the series. However, Chicago rallied to level the best-of-seven contest and, ignited by Dexter Fowler’s lead-off home run, raced into a 5-1 lead in the decider. The Indians hit back with Rajai Davis launching a two-run home run off flamethrower Aroldis Chapman to tie it before a brief rain delay added to the drama. However, the Cubs weren’t to be denied, winning 8-7 to snap the longest title drought in the game.
The American gymnast marked her first Olympic Games with a performance for the ages. Biles, 19, won a record-equaling four gold medals in the team event, individual allaround, vault and floor exercise. A slip on the beam cost her a shot at a fifth title, eventually settling for bronze, but by then her status as the world’s best female gymnast was in no doubt. Biles became the fifth woman to win four golds at the same Games after Hungarian Agnes Keleti (1956), Soviet Larissa Latynina (1956), Czech Vera Caslavska (1968) and Romanian Ecaterina Szabo (1984). “I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps,” the Texan said. “I’m the first Simone Biles.”
Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City pulled off one of the greatest upsets in English soccer history by defying title odds of 5,000-1 to lift the Premier League trophy. Having barely avoided relegation the previous season, Leicester rode that wave of momentum all the way to a fairytale triumph. Its rags-to-riches revival was epitomized by the rise of former non-league striker Jamie Vardy whose 24 goals was second only to England teammate Harry Kane. Foxes’ winger Riyad Mahrez scooped the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award, while midfielder N’Golo Kante and defender Wes Morgan joined them in the team of the year.